The Irish standard., 1887-06-18
ASSORTED SCIENCE.

ASSOH Ed SCIeNCEs
PEAT is now used in the manufacture
of paper. It is dried and the fiber sep
arated and converted into pulp.
A FRENCH professor of chemistry has
affirmed that the cod-iver oil which is OF
the lightest color is the purest, as the
dark color of some Of this oil is the result
of the use of the purified livers.
CARBoN1o ACID, produced by the action
of vinegar on MARBLE is supposed to have
been used as an an@sthetic by the ancient
Egyptians and Greeks. It is reported that
an@sthesia induced by carbonic acid is
very complete, may last long time, and
the gas, of course, being mixed with air,
is without danger.
The heat Of fire Is very liable to put .
piano out of tune This is not due to the
expanding and contracting of the strings,
as sgenerally supposed, but to the variations
produced in the sounding boards under the
influence of the increased dryness Of the
air, especially in furnace-heated houses.
Sounding boards are made OF spruce, be-
cause of the superior resonance OF that
timber, but spruce Of all woods is most
affected by changes in temperature.
The following is said to be sure test
for ascertaining whether wall paper con
tains arsenic: Take piece of paper and
pour upon it strong aqua ammonia over q
saucer. If there be any arsenic present,
this will dissolve it. Collect the liquid in
a vial or tube, and drop in a crystal of nj
trate of silver. IF there be arsenic pres
ent, little yellow crystals will make their
appearance about the nitrate of silver.
ArsenicA green, when washed with aqua
ammonia, either changes blue or fades.
A NEW and novel fog-bell is to be
anchored in Boston harbor. It is to be op'
Grated by machinery similar to ctockwork.
The power for winding it up is furnished by
aWindmll arrangement twelve feet square,
consisting of anumber of sails so placed that
they revolve at every breeze. A rod is at
tached to the middle wheel, driven by the
pendulum, so that it falls seven times q
minute upon a gong, the sound Of which
can be heard from five to seven miles.
The machinery when wound up will run
ninety hours without any other winding.
TIE vegetable kingdom furnishes the
most harmful subst: noes to the human
system and the most violent poisons. The
mineral drugs which may cause harm are
few in number, and, if we except arsenic,
are not especially violent poisons. Fhere
is considerable amount of poisoning from
lead, but not thHzgh its medicinal uses;
and the same may be said at the present
time Of mercury. In fine, it is the purely
vegetable drugs which are the most dam
gerous, beca1se'it is these which stimulate
the brain or benumb the senses, induce
morbid habits and eventually establish
physical degeneration.
THERE is difference in the driving ef-
feet of a light hammer when compared
with the bl0ws of q heavy one, or rusty
machine bolt would notremain to be rivet-
ed ali out of shape, when six-pound
siedge would take every thing before it
The driving effect frUm any source seems
to require time to act in order to extend q
great way into the material. This is
noticed in heading up rtvet. where the
metal can be worked down into cone
shaped head by the upsetting effects of a
sharp blow, which will be crippled at once
under the crushing force Of sledge ham,
mer.
WOOD is now being rendered incombusti.
bic in the following manner: 1t is soaked
in ~. parts, by weight, OF sulphate Of zinc,
eleven Of potash, twenty-five Of alum and
eleven Of manganic oxide in lukewarm
water in an iron boiler, to which is grad
ually added eleven parts of sixty per cent.
sulphuric acid. The wood to be prepared
is placed upon an iron grating IN an appar
ratus Of suitable size the separate pieces
being placed an inch apart The liquid 10
then poured into the apparatus, and the
wood is allowed to reman completely COW
cred for three hours, and is then air-dried.
FLEsHY people are generally supposed
to be the fullest blooded. This is erro.
neous. They are not as well supplied with
the vital current, and what they have is
inferior, through lack of circulation, to
that of people of moderate flesh. Fat
people have, then, less vital energy than
the thin, not possessing sufficient blood to
bring every organ up to its full working
power, and the fat hindering what
blood there is from flowing freely enough
to the organs, especially at the moment Of
action requiring it. Besides all this, the
fat obstruets the play Of the lungs, so that
the blood; the natural and necessary COM
bustion is thus so interfered with that the
functions of the body are hi ndered.
TYPE made from paper is the latest nov
city. A process has been patented by
which large type, used for printing plar
cards, can be made from pulp. Such letters
are at present cut on wood. The pulp is
disiccated and reduced to powdered or
comminuted state, after which it is thor
oughly mixed with q water-proofng
liquid or material-such as paraf1ine oil or
. drying linseed oil, for instance. The MKT
ure is then dried and subsequently pull
verized. In it's pulverized state it is intro
duced into mold of the requisite con-
struction to produce the desired article,
type or block, and then subjected to pres
sure to consolidate it and heat to render
the water r-proofng material.
Finally, the type is cooled while in the
mold, so as to cause it to retain its shape
and solid ity.
The manufacture of barrel slaves, par
in that feature by which they are
given that peculiar bending or curving
shape which is their necessary character
istic, is now accomplished in singularly
simple manner, and with great rapidity as
we'll as accuracy. Thus the lateral curve
is executed by cutting the slaves from
log by means of cylinder-saw, an instru-
ment which resembles in its appearance
steel drum with teeth all around one end;
again, the lengthwise curve is obtained
when edging up the slaves by feeding
them IN q travelling nlatfOrm which